


A Long Way Round

by TheGeniusCallsYou



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Belle might have a thing for her husband's ears, But just a tiny bit, F/M, Family, Fluff, Kissing, Making Out, Rumbelle - Freeform, Rumple is not opposed, Rumple's pixy ears, Touching, we all know those two can't keep their hands off each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22773694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeniusCallsYou/pseuds/TheGeniusCallsYou
Summary: "I think I'll never get used to the sight." He turned to his left to see Regina sitting down next to him on the playground's bench."Of children playing on the playground?" he asked with a raised eyebrow."Of you smiling like a happy lunatic."Once he would have flash his teeth at her with a snark, now he turned his head back to the swingset and grinned broadly. Belle was pushing Gedeon on one of the swings, and his boy was screaming with delight. His small hands bounced excitedly on the railings as Belle talked nonsense every time she pushed him higher."I'm not planning to stop."
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 13
Kudos: 34





	A Long Way Round

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic for this fandom and certainly not the last for sure!  
> I just love those two dorks and they deserve all the happiness they could get.  
> Also, it was supposed to be a sweet family fic but morphed into making out session the further you go, but they wanted to do it, and I couldn't stop them.
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy!

It was a weird feeling, he thought. Peace of the soul and the mind. Even after two years, he was still mesmerised by it. For the first couple of months after his mother's defeat, he had been still waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had been cautious, overcautious even, of the things he had been saying or doing. Not really believing that it had been over, that he could have started over, earn the trust and forgiveness. But people had been smiling to him, Belle had put her ring back on, and they were now both raising Gideon. It had been two years since then. He couldn't have been happier. 

"I think I'll never get used to the sight." He turned to his left to see Regina sitting down next to him on the playground's bench. 

"Of children playing on the playground?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Regina huffed, shaking her head and gave him a pointed look.

"Of you smiling like a happy lunatic." 

Once he would have flash his teeth at her with a snark, now he turned his head back to the swingset and grinned broadly. Belle was pushing Gedeon on one of the swings, and his boy was screaming with delight. His small hands bounced excitedly on the railings as Belle talked nonsense every time she pushed him higher. 

"I'm not planning to stop."

From the corner of his eye, he could have seen Regina relaxing back with one hand draped over the backrest. They sat in silence for a time. He never took his eyes from his family, but he could feel Regina's gaze boring into him. It wasn't uncomfortable, though. Once it would have made him irritated, now... he found he didn't care so much. 

"You look better, you know?" She said finally. "Parenthood suits you."

He snored.

"Yes, the 'Dark One needs no sleep' thing really helps when it comes to night duties."

"You're making every toddler's parents there are and were jealous, including me."

Gideon was waving both of his hands at him. He smiled and gently waved back. 

"Unfortunately, this particular skill comes only with the full, quite dark and sometimes nasty package." 

To his surprise, it didn't come as bitter as he thought it would have. Still, the moment of silence between the two of them felt somewhat heavy.

"And how is it, your curse that is. No violent outbursts nor needs to kill someone?"

He turned his head towards her, corner of his mouth raised in a smirk.

"Still afraid I'll wreak havoc upon this town? You wound me, Your Majesty."

He aimed to sound hurt, but the mischevious, impish glint in his eyes that never had really left him, gave him away. Regina looked back at him clearly not amused, and he shrugged, then looked down losing the smirk.

"It's much quieter there now," he said tapping the side of his head and glancing back at her. "Besides, "he turned his eyes back to his family, "I have too much to lose."

"You thought like this once before."

He shook his head and rested his hand on his knees.

"Before, I was a fool and a coward."

Regina put her hand over his and squeezed. He turned his head towards her startled. There was a gentle, yet determined gaze focused on him, and he found his mouth was slightly open with surprise. 

"You were many things Rumple, but never those two."

There was something worm blooming in his chest. Something he soon had realised was gratitude. He dropped his gaze, suddenly shy, afraid if he still looked at her, Regina would notice the moisture gathering in his eyes. He squeezed her hand back and cleared his throat, that felt incredibly tight for a moment. He didn't pull his hand away.

"Remember, when I told you that being good doesn't mean good things will happen?" he asked still not looking at her but their joined hands. He continued, not waiting for her answer. "I was wrong. I should have gone the same path you did."

"You have." He looked back sharply at her as if to tell her not to lie to him. She smirked back at him, not fazed at all. "You just took the long way round."

He snored at that. He wouldn't have named it as such, but it was one way to put it for sure. 

"Besides," Regina let go of his hand and shifted to seat sideways on the bench and look him in the eye. "I remember saying that villains don't get happy endings... and yet here we are."

Regina was smiling. She looked away from him, and he followed her gaze to see Belle gently putting Gideon into one of the rocking cars. He smiled then, that new, gentle smile that he used so often now. His heart was swelling with love so intense it could push the dark whispers of his curse into a far corner of his mind. It wasn't possible to break it with the True Love's Kiss in this land, neither in Enchanted Forest to be honest, not after he took it for the second time. But that warm feeling in his chest was able to make it idle. The curse was bound to him, and finally, he was the one controlling it, not the other way around. He had left his days as a villain behind just as much as Regina had and didn't look back, not regretting it for one second. The smile on his face broadened. 

"Here we are, indeed."

"Papa!" Gideon screamed, making his way from the car on his small, jeans-clad legs. Belle was hurrying beside him, watching him closely and ready to catch him if he had fallen. For such a small child, he sure was fast. Regina snored and clapped Rumple on the shoulder.

"Go to your child, Gold before he makes his mother lose her footing in those shoes of hers."

He grinned broadly showing his golden tooth and stood up. With a couple of longs strides, he was in front of Gideon, lifting him high up in the air and spinning him around. His son was squealing with delight at the action, the sound making Rumple's heart almost bursting with joy. There was dirt on his suit form kneeling earlier on the ground and sand in his hair, but he didn't care about those things anymore. Not when he was with his family.

He hugged Gideon tightly to his chest and kissed his head. He turned to his wife with his son sitting on his right arm and found himself speechless at the look in her eyes, so loving and pure. She didn't say a thing, just got to her tiptoes, touching his cheek with her hand while her lips covered his.

He responded to her eagerly, sliding his tongue over her bottom lip, deepening the kiss as she opened her mouth to let him in without hesitation. His left hand circled her waist as hers hold onto his cheek, while the other circled their son. Gideon held him by the neck, secured between the two of them. It was as if they were the only people on the planet, just the three of them and he could stay in that moment forever.

"For God's sake, Gold! It's a children's playground, not yours! Go home!"

They both broke the kiss panting slightly. There was a boyish grin on his face that made Belle look down with slight redness to her cheeks. He didn't know why, but it made him extremely happy that he still could make his wife blush like that. Gideon was squirming slightly but seemed otherwise unfazed by their parents' antics. For a moment Rumple rested his forehead against Belle's, then planted a soft kiss on it. He turned with his hand still around his wife's waist towards Regina with a smug expression.

"And a good day to you too, Your Majesty."

He let go of Belle and put Gideon on his shoulders. His son latched onto his head, taking a fistful of his hair in his small hands, holding on for his dear life. Rumple moved his arms up to clasp them behind the toddler's back to protect him from falling as Belle's arm embraced him around his waist. Together they moved towards the car. 

Regina just shook her head and smiled at the retreating family.

*******

It was past ten o'clock as he stood by the window downstairs, looking out on the quiet street. Gideon had fallen asleep for the second time just a half an hour ago. It would be a lot of easier if their son had some regular sleeping patterns, but unfortunately, it wasn't so. Nevertheless, he smiled. Regina had been right, those days he had been smiling a lot more, than before.

He didn't startle as soft arms embraced him from behind and a much smaller body than his pressed against his back. It had been quite some time since he had problems with other's touch. He still had his moments but not with Belle, never with her. He relaxed into her, taking one of her hands in his and brought it to his lips, kissing it, then clasping her hands over his heart. She planted a kiss over his shoulderblade in exchange.

" A penny for your thoughts?" She murmured, resting her chin on his shoulder and he turned his head slightly, touching his temple to the top of her head.

"Just thinking how incredibly lucky I am." He squeezed her hand.

She freed one of her hands from his and moved it to his hair, stroking it slowly.

"Is this what you've been talking about with Regina earlier?"

"Actually yes." he smiled slightly. "And she wanted to make sure I was doing fine, with the curse and all."

"That's nice of her." He sighed in agreement. "And are you? doing fine?" She asked after a moment. He turned slightly and greened at her.

"More than ever." She smiled back, twisting a little and lifting herself on his shoulder to plant a soft kiss against his lips. 

"I'm glad." He didn't answer to that, just rested his head back against hers. 

She was lightly tracing the outline of his ear with her fingers. Sometimes she had missed his long hair and the way she could twist them around her digits, playing with them. But then, there were moments like this, when she could stroke his neck without any obstacles and map his pixy ears. She had discovered that she liked his ears very much so, and he didn't seem to mind her new fascination with them. On the contrary, she would say.

"I've never gotten to do those things with him," he said barely above a whisper. "With Bae." Belle tightened her arms around him but didn't say anything, not yet. 

"I've never thrown him high up in the air nor swung him around. My leg wouldn't let me." He was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, it was even quieter than before. 

"Is it wrong of me? To be happy for one son while sad and longing for the other?"

Belle closed her eyes at how small his voice sounded. She let go of him and moved to stand in front of him with both of her hands on his shoulders. Without conscious thought, he put his hands on her waist as they looked at each other in the eye.

"It's not wrong, Rumple and never will be." She could see tears glistening in his eyes. She was used to his mood swings, as unpredictable and spare as they were now. She put one hand behind his head and pulled him down. He went without hesitation, his face burring into the crook of her neck as she hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry, I just miss him sometimes," he murmured against her shoulder, and she kissed his temple.

"I know. I miss him too. There's nothing to be sorry about." He sighed and lifted his head but didn't let go of her waist. He wasn't meeting her gaze, once more looking uncertain.

"I'm just afraid that Gideon would one day think I'm compensating or something." 

Belle shook her head and put her right hand to his face, making him turn in her direction to look at her. She was smiling at him. That gentle, patient and loving smile that went with a glint of humour in her eyes.

"And are you compensating?" 

He huffed, rolling his eyes, pretending to sound offended.

"Of course not, that would be ridiculous."

"Then you have nothing to be afraid of." 

He kissed her palm and leaned into her touch. His left hand left her waist to stroke her cheek, mimicking her gesture.

"I don't deserve you."

"Yes, you do," she answered without hesitation and coupled his face in both of her hands. "And Baelfire would be proud and happy with how you are with Gideon. He will tell you this himself one day." 

There were so much love and certainty in her eyes that he found himself drowning in it, inching just a little closer to her. They both had closed the distance between them at the same time. He loved kissing her. The closeness of her body and the taste of her soft lips on his made him dizzy every time. He pulled her closer, his hand resting securely on the small of her back, making sure they wouldn't tumble to the ground.

One kiss became two, then three and more and more, each one more eager than the last. 

He nibbled her lower lip, and she opened her mouth for him, deepening their next kiss, letting him in. She shuddered in his arms and gripped him tighter. He let her in as much as she had and it was making him see stars. 

Her body was hot against his, he could smell the desire rolling off her in weaves and he knew the same applied to him. She was his drug and he hers and he couldn't understand how could there be a time when he could have ever let her go. 

His hand was in her hair, messing her curls as they twisted between his fingers. She moaned into his mouth, the sound making him lightheaded and he swallowed it down with another kiss. Hungry for more as he could feel her hands on his body. One trapped between them, twisted in the silk of his shirt, burning his chest, the other gripping his neck, scraping it with fingernails, moving into his hair and back again. Her touch was electrifying. Every time she touched him, he could feel impulses travelling through his body. He never wanted her to stop.

They broke their last kiss panting and gulping for air, but still only a breath away, resting their foreheads against each other. Belle's hands moved to his tie, uniting it without breaking the eye-contact. Her pupils were dilated, and he was sure his were too. He was terribly overdressed compared to her. She was already in her nightgown, while he only discarded his jacket. She always joked that he was the only man who would bath a toddler in his shirt and waistcoat and still managed to look good while doing it.

He took one look at her flushed face and swollen lips, and bend down to kiss the corner of her mouth. He moved down, planting kisses down to her jaw and neck. She sighed and tensed as he pressed his lips to her pulse point, gently sucking at it. She pressed herself closer to him, stiffing a moan as he cupped her breast in one hand and making him groan in pleasure when her mouth closed on his earlobe. He could feel himself getting hard against her belly as she licked at his ear and moved to kiss the soft spot behind it. Oh no, he didn't mind her new fascination with his ears at all. He moved his hand to cradle her head, making her expose her neck to him but already missing her lips on his flesh.

"There are..." a kiss to the throat.

"No words..." a kiss to the jawline.

"To describe..." a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"How much I love you." He finished, hovering but a breath away from her lips.

She looked at him with such love and adoration, that he could swear it could bring him to his knees. He would do anything for her. She leaned away and brought her hand up, tracing it along his face, finishing with fingers over his lower lip. He shivered but not from the cold.

"You don't need to say anything, Rumple. I already know." She pecked his nose and he grinned sheepishly. 

"I still love you."

"And I you."

She kissed him again, a quick peck to the lips. 

"How about, we take it to bed?" He asked, embracing her and pulling her close. 

"Aren't you afraid, our son would have other ideas?" She asked playfully instead, tracing circles in his shirtsleeve, bitting down on her lower lip.

God, she was beautiful.

"Well, I could always charm him to sleep - "

"Rumple!" She smacked him on the shoulder but there was no menace in it only playfulness. He grinned broadly at her and chuckled. 

She took hold of his waistcoat and look up at him, biting her lip again, tempting him. Making him desire her even more than he thought was possible. "We could always see how it goes."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm not planning to make it quick."

"I'm counting on it."

He kissed her again then. Holding her face in his hands, but before she could drown in him, yet again, he broke the kiss and scooped her in his arms. She squeaked and muffled it by burring her head in the crook of his neck and giggling. It wouldn't do for Gideon to wake up right about now. She felt Rumple's lips brush the top of her head, and he made his way with her towards the steps.

"Up we go, then, Mrs Gold."

There was a stupid smile plastered on his face as he carried his wife up the stairs. He could feel Belle smiling too against his neck. 

Yes, he had made it.

It just took the long way round.

The bedroom door closed behind them with a soft click.


End file.
